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Albania Celebrates 100 Years Since Declaration Of Independence

Decorations surround a statue of Skanderbeg, the Albanian national hero, in central Tirana.

Children wear Albanian national dress in Tirana.

People celebrate in Tirana.

Kosovar Albanian men wear traditional attire as they ride through Tirana.

Albanian artist Saimir Strati appears in front of his mosaic of the Albanian flag at the Hotel Prishtina. The 65-square-meter mosaic, made of 1.35 million beans, earned Strati his seventh Guinness world record.

Members of the Albanian minority in Macedonia celebrate Albanian Independence Day in Skopje.

The main event of the day was held in the port city of Vlore, where Albanian leaders declared independence from the Ottoman Empire on November 28, 1912.

Festivities are also planned in the capital, Tirana, with an evening of celebrities and dignitaries.

Albanian President Bujar Nishani, Prime Minister Sali Berisha, and Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci are expected to join tens of thousands of people for celebrations lasting until late into the night.

During World War II, Albania was occupied by fascist Italy, and then by Nazi Germany.

After the war, a communist dictatorship under Enver Hoxha took power.

After the fall of communism, Albania also embarked on reforms to become a parliamentary democracy.

Members of Serbia’s Albanian minority celebrated Flag Day on November 28, which this year marks the 100th anniversary of the Albanian declaration of independence from Turkish rule. Ethnic Albanians wore national dress and played traditional music during a celebration in the town of Presevo. (Reuters)